ITDHC 10

Chapter 10

After hearing Anne’s story, Elissa sent her away and sat back down beside the bed.

Elissa looked troubled as she stared at Richard.

‘The person who hurt the Young Duke was His Grace the Duke.’

‘…What?’

‘I was coming out of the kitchen earlier when I saw someone who had come to see the Duke.’

‘At this late hour?’

‘The visitor… was that man. The man with the scar on his eyebrow whom Madam and I saw in the hunting grounds today.’

‘…!’

‘So I secretly followed him and listened to what they were saying in the Duke’s study.’

Anne’s story explained the part of today’s incident that had seemed the most suspicious.

Why had an incident in which the person behind it could be guessed so easily taken place in the Imperial Hunting Grounds?

Why had Albert asked the Emperor to investigate the incident?

And, more importantly, why had Albert done something like this in the first place?

It also explained why Albert had barely checked Richard’s condition.

‘He did all of this to show off Rubellin’s power.’

He had used Richard to show that Rubellin was still powerful and had not weakened.

‘He’s insane. How could a grandfather do this to his own grandson…?’

Elissa bit down hard on her lower lip.

She was trembling with anger.

Albert had deliberately caused all of this despite knowing Richard would be hurt. Perhaps he had even intended for Richard to be injured, as long as he did not die.

There was no doubt about it.

This was abuse.

‘Should I tell Richard?’

Elissa hesitated.

‘If Richard finds out, will he leave the ducal family? If that happens, I…’

If Richard left the ducal family, Albert would have no reason to keep Elissa there anymore.

If she were thrown out of the ducal residence, she would end up in an orphanage.

Or she might have to wander the streets.

Her comfortable life would come to an end.

‘Even so… I have to tell him.’

Even if it meant the end of her comfortable life.

Even if it meant leaving a wound in Richard’s heart.

She could not let Richard continue living without knowing that the only family he had left was the very person who had put him in danger.

Wouldn’t such a life be too cruel?

Just then, Richard’s fingertips twitched.

His eyes slowly opened.

Even in the dim light, his vivid red eyes were unmistakable.

Richard stared at Elissa for a moment, then moved his eyes around the room.

Once he seemed to understand where he was, he looked back at Elissa.

Elissa asked,

“How are you feeling?”

“…Why aren’t you asleep?”

Elissa had been about to say that she had heard something that made it impossible for her to sleep, but she quickly changed her words.

“Why? Because my husband is sick, so I was taking care of you. Aren’t you grateful?”

I should take advantage of the situation while I can.

Elissa decided to make a point of all the effort she had put in.

Of course, all she had really done was sit beside him.

Well, technically, I only stayed because this is the only room I have to sleep in… But there’s no need to mention that.

At her words, Richard hurriedly looked away.

The tips of his ears had turned red, but Elissa could not see them in the darkness.

Avoiding her gaze, Richard turned onto his side and spoke gruffly.

“…You don’t need to. Just go to sleep.”

He’s so difficult, even when someone is trying to take care of him.

Elissa clicked her tongue inwardly at Richard’s prickly attitude.

Then she suddenly remembered that there was something she needed to tell him.

“Richard, there’s something you need to know.”

“Go ahead.”

Richard answered casually without even turning around.

Elissa hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“The person who hurt you… was your grandfather.”

Richard did not react.

Since his back was turned to her, Elissa could not tell what he was feeling or what expression he was making.

After watching him for a moment, Elissa continued.

“When I went to the valley, I saw some suspicious men. They were the same people who attacked you. Anne told me that one of them came to the estate earlier and met with the Duke.”

“……”

“I just thought… you should know.”

“…I know.”

“What?”

“I already know. I know what he’s thinking and what kind of person he is.”

Richard’s voice was calm, as though he were talking about someone completely unrelated to him.

His lack of emotion made Elissa’s eyes tremble.

Contrary to what she had expected, the person shocked by this conversation was not Richard.

It was Elissa.

She stared blankly at Richard before carefully asking,

“If you knew that, why are you still here?”

“I came here because I knew.”

“What does that mean?”

Richard, who had answered every one of Elissa’s questions until then, fell silent.

Elissa waited quietly for him to speak.

“…I’m an illegitimate child.”

“……”

“And I’m only half-blooded, with commoner blood in me.”

Richard was the illegitimate son of the Young Duke and a commoner.

After his birth, he had been raised outside the ducal family by his maternal uncle.

His uncle had taken Richard to the ducal family in an attempt to obtain money from them.

But Albert had pretended not to know him, claiming that Richard was not his blood relative.

“When the man who called himself my father was still alive, the Duke was obsessed with killing me.”

And on the very day Richard’s uncle had come to the ducal residence, an intruder broke into their home.

The person behind it was obvious.

Albert had intended to erase the disgrace his son had brought upon the family.

Richard had barely survived.

But once his uncle learned what Albert intended to do, he became terrified and abandoned his nephew before fleeing.

Left alone, Richard hid Rubellin’s power and moved from guild to guild, doing whatever he could to survive.

Then, one day, when he was fourteen years old—

His grandfather, the very man who had tried so desperately to kill him, came looking for him.

“But after my father died, he came to find me. He told me to become the heir.”

He needed a grandson to carry on the family line in place of his dead son.

A legitimate heir who shared even a little of his blood.

After all, he had not devoted his entire life to protecting the family just to hand it over to some distant branch of the family.

Moreover, Richard had inherited both his father’s blood and the power of Rubellin.

That made him useful as both a threat to the Imperial Family and a symbol to show the family’s retainers.

Realizing Albert’s true intentions, Richard had laughed.

The man who had once tried so desperately to kill him was now desperately concerned about his life.

Wasn’t that amusing?

For a moment, Richard had wondered what would happen if he ended his own life right in front of Albert.

But he changed his mind.

“I came here to end this family line with my own hands.”

Elissa stared blankly at Richard as he spoke about something so painful as though it were nothing.

I thought he was just being prickly because he was going through a rebellious phase.

She felt sorry for having misunderstood him so carelessly when she knew nothing about his circumstances.

At the same time, she was grateful that Richard had told her something so difficult.

The fact that he had shared this with her meant that he trusted her.

To force a child like this to marry and have a child with him…

No wonder Richard had hated Elissa and Hanes so much in the original story.

Elissa reached out and pulled Richard’s arm toward her.

Richard flinched in surprise and turned to look at her.

“What are you doing?”

Elissa took Richard’s hand and shook it as if they were sealing a deal.

“I’ll be on your side.”

Elissa smiled brightly as she shook his hand.

She wanted to become a source of strength for her young husband, who had no one on his side in this ducal residence and was enduring everything solely for the sake of revenge.

“Let’s get along.”

Richard stared at Elissa and at his hand held in hers with a bewildered expression.

But he could not bring himself to pull away from that small, determined hand or push away the girl smiling brightly at him.

“Did you summon me, Your Majesty?”

Early the next morning, Marquis Phelis, the Emperor’s future in-law, entered the Emperor’s bedchamber.

Emperor Roam was still dressed casually in a comfortable robe and was playing chess alone.

“Sit.”

Marquis Phelis bowed respectfully to the Emperor before taking a seat across from him.

Quite a few chess pieces were already scattered across the floor.

Among them, one piece stood out—a pawn that had advanced all the way to the square directly in front of the enemy lines.

Roam stared at the pawn and remembered what Christian had said in anger the previous night.

‘We have to kill that monster before it’s too late, Father! If we let him live, he’ll definitely become a threat to us.’

Roam remembered the sight of Richard in the hunting grounds a few days earlier.

The violent storm that had effortlessly overwhelmed several grown men.

It had certainly been overwhelming power.

The Storm of Rubellin. He truly was a monster worthy of that name.

Roam had sensed a threat in that power.

And it seemed that others had felt the same threat.

Roam had heard that, since the incident, more nobles than before had been visiting the Rubellin ducal residence.

Those foxes.

Nobles were sly like foxes.

They could sense the smell of power as if by instinct and would gather around whichever side promised them the greatest benefits.

The fact that they were gathering around the Rubellin ducal family meant they believed Rubellin was stronger than the Imperial Family.

Roam lightly tapped the pawn with his finger.

Marquis Phelis’s gaze naturally followed.

“Raymore. If you had a pawn that might one day become a queen, what would you do with it?”

Marquis Phelis immediately understood who the ‘pawn’ represented.

A sly light appeared in his eyes.

He answered calmly, with a smile as though he had been waiting for this question.

“You should eliminate it, of course. If you leave it alone, it will surely become an obstacle in Your Majesty’s path.”

“But what if there is no justification, and I cannot simply force the matter?”

“Justification can always be created.”

“Create justification?”

“Use the Brothers’ Pact, Your Majesty.”

The Brothers’ Pact referred to the covenant between the four founding families that had contributed to the founding of the Arencia Empire.

The terms of the pact were as follows:

Since Cairot, Rubellin, Seriart, and Esther had sworn the bond of brotherhood,

if any of the three families rebelled against the Imperial Family for a just reason, the Imperial Family could not destroy that family.

And if the Imperial Family called upon them for help, the three families were obligated to protect the Imperial Family no matter what.

By using that pact, they might not be able to kill the Young Duke directly, but they could drive him toward his death.

Marquis Phelis smiled like a cunning snake and whispered,

“I have a good way to use that pact.”